Growing your brand with social media contests

February 28, 2019

Social media contests are one of the easiest and most effective ways of promoting your products and services without spending loads of money. However, it seems as though many people think they aren’t useful anymore as a result of new features such as Instagram ‘promotions’ and live videos.

So, what are the benefits of social media contests when it comes to growing your brand? Let’s talk about it…

FYI It’s important to remember that different platforms have different rules when it comes to social media contests so make sure you check these before you start!

They boost online engagement

This is an easy one but obviously, one of the most beneficial. A lot of social media contests involve participants commenting, liking and sharing posts. This is great for boosting online engagement. The more your posts are commented on and liked, the more they will be shown to other people – especially on Twitter where the timeline often shows tweets that have been liked and replied to by other people that you follow! The more the post is shared, the more people will see it!

Increase your social following

Similarly to boosting your online engagement, it is likely that your social media contest will have a ‘rule’ that the participant follows your business account in order to gain entry to the contest. Nowadays, it can be difficult to grow on social media, especially on the likes of Instagram, so giving someone a reason to follow you is a great way of growing your list of followers.

Expand your brand awareness

This is one of the most important reasons for running a social media contest. Maybe someone follows your account but they aren’t really sure what you are all about… this will change that! Expanding brand awareness is so important in order to grow your business and could lead to you acquiring some new clients too!

They help to build your email list

Growing your email list can be difficult nowadays. The reality of the situation is that social media brings with it the ability to receive information straight away and so, people have become lazy. They don’t want to spend that extra couple of seconds signing up to an email list. However, they are more likely to sign up if they think they are getting some sort of reward out of it.

So – why not give it a go? Put together a decent offer or freebie and blast it on your social media. Just make sure it’s easy for people to take part and for your own benefit, a way to get what you need from the entrants (email addresses, likes, follows, mentions etc). Good luck!

About the author

Lauryn Mathews

Lauryn is a psychology undergraduate student at the University of Exeter. When she's not at work, she's writing on her own blog or spending hours getting those perfect Instagram shots.

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